Study of 10Be and 16C cluster structure by means of breakup reactions

The study of cluster structures in nuclei far from stability represents a valid tool to explore the nuclear force in few-body systems. In this paper we discuss a new experimental investigation of the structure of 10Be and 16C nuclei by means of projectile sequential break-up reactions induced on CH2 target at intermediateenergies. Their spectroscopy is obtained via a relative energy analysis of breakup fragments with the CHIMERA multi-detector. From 4He+6He correlations we suggest the presence of a new state at about 13.5MeV in 10Be. The inspection of 6He+10Be break-up channel reveals the existence of a possible high-lying excited state at 20.6MeV in 16C. Finally, new perspectives concerning the improvement of the present results are discussed

OSCAR: A new modular device for the identification and correlation of low energy particles

A new modular and high versatility hodoscope, OSCAR, has been developed and characterized. The aim of this hodoscope is to work as an ancillary detector of present large acceptance heavy ion detectors in specific angular regions where low thresholds and high granularities are needed. We discuss the capabilities of OSCAR in the ΔE–E identification of very low energy light particles, providing a precise map of the thickness uniformity of the ΔE (SSSSD, 20μm) stage and showing how the thickness gradient affects the identification of particles. Energy spectra of light identified particles produced in Ca+Ca collisions at 35AMeV are used to investigate isospin transport phenomena involving the emission of low energy particles from the quasi-target (QT) source in semi-peripheral nuclear collisions. The possibility to explore particle–particle correlations are also discussed

Automatic classification of nuclear physics data via a Constrained Evolutionary Clustering approach

This paper presents an automatic method for data classification in nuclear physics experiments based on evolutionary computing and vector quantization. The major novelties of our approach are the fully automatic mechanism and the use of analytical models to provide physics constraints, yielding to a fast and physically reliable classification with nearly-zero human supervision. Our method is successfully validated by using experimental data produced by stacks of semiconducting detectors. The resulting classification is highly satisfactory for all explored cases and is particularly robust to noise. The algorithm is suitable to be integrated in the online and offline analysis programs of existing large complexity detection arrays for the study of nucleus-nucleus collisions at low and intermediate energies

New experimental investigation of the structure of Be 10 and C 16 by means of intermediate-energy sequential breakup

10Be and 16C spectroscopy has been investigated by analyzing their breakup events on CH2 and CD2 targets. Breakup fragments have been detected by means of the CHIMERA detector. In particular, we investigated cluster decays of 10Be in 4He+6He and of 16C in 6He+10Be and 4He+6He+6He. From the relative energy analysis of breakup fragments, we investigate the spectroscopy of excited states of projectile nuclei. In the 10Be case we observe known states at 9.51, 10.16, 10.6, and 11.8 MeV. Further, we suggest the existence of a new state at 13.5 MeV, possibly 6+ as indicated from angular correlation analysis. The relative energy (Erel+Eth) spectrum of 16C, reconstructed starting from 6He+10Be correlations, shows a peak at about 20.6 MeV, probably related to the existence of an high-lying excited state. Non-vanishing yields are also seen in the triple coincidences 4He+6He+6He

'ACCORD' e-Platform: Development and evaluation of an innovative multicultural training for school professionals

The study aims at describing the development, application and evaluation of ACCORD, an innovative e-platform offering a free-accessible tailored multicultural training for school professionals through the application of current ICT research (e-learning, mobility, internet, artificial intelligence). The eplatform provided school professionals with a dedicated Massive Online Open Course (MOOC) and a Serious Game (SG), embedded within it, useful to enhance and (self-)evaluate their intercultural competences and negotiation abilities. Technological, Psychological, and Pedagogical models and approaches underpinned the methodology driving the creation of the e-platform contents. Following a pilot test, the edited version of the e-platform (including the SG, learning materials, lessons, questionnaires) was widely diffused in different languages (English, German, Italian, Flemish, Spanish). Pre- and post-training questionnaires were used to assess the learning experience and the efficacy of the training. Findings provided evidence supporting the learning effectiveness of ACCORD training. The experience with the e-platform has been positively rated by the users concerning both the technological and educational aspects. Overall, the study provided an overview on the creation, implementation and evaluation of a novel multicultural training tool, which has been proven to effectively foster the enhancement of intercultural and interethnic competencies of professionals working in the European educational contexts

CP--odd Correlation in the Decay of Neutral Higgs Boson into ZZZZ, W+W−W^+W^-, or ttˉt{\bar t}

We investigate the possibility of detecting CP--odd angular correlations in the various decay modes of the neutral Higgs boson including the modes of a $ZZ$ pair, a $W^+W^-$ pair, or a heavy quark pair. It is a natural way to probe the CP character of the Higgs boson once it is identified. Final state interactions (i.e. the absorptive decay amplitude) is not required in such correlations. As an illustrative example we take the fundamental source of the CP nonconservation to be in the Yukawa couplings of the Higgs boson to the heavy fermions. A similar correlation in the process $e^+e^- \to l^+ l^- H$ is also proposed. Our analysis of these correlations will be useful for experiments in future colliders such as LEP II, SSC, LHC or NLC.Comment: 16 pages, plus 8 postscript graphs not posted befor

Clustering in 18O - absolute determination of branching ratios via high-resolution particle spectroscopy

The determination of absolute branching ratios for high-energy states in light nuclei is an important and useful tool for probing the underlying nuclear structure of individual resonances: for example, in establishing the tendency of an excited state towards α -cluster structure. Difficulty arises in measuring these branching ratios due to similarities in available decay channels, such as ( 18 O, n ) and ( 18 O, 2 n ), as well as differences in geometric efficiencies due to population of bound excited levels in daughter nuclei. Methods are presented using Monte Carlo techniques to overcome these issues

Determining the Structure of Higgs Couplings at the LHC

Higgs boson production via weak boson fusion at the CERN Large Hadron Collider has the capability to determine the dominant CP nature of a Higgs boson, via the tensor structure of its coupling to weak bosons. This information is contained in the azimuthal angle distribution of the two outgoing forward tagging jets. The technique is independent of both the Higgs boson mass and the observed decay channel.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, version accepted for publication in PR

Study of nuclear structure of 13C and 20Ne by low energy nuclear reactions

We report some recent experimental results on the spectroscopy of 13C and 20Ne nuclei by means of low energy nuclear reactions carried out with high resolution electrostatic accelerators. In the case of 13C we investigated the possible existence of a-cluster states above the a emission threshold by means of low energy elastic resonant scattering α+9Be in direct kinematics. Excitation functions show the presence of various resonances that have been reproduced by R-matrix fit. We studied also the structure of 20Ne by means of the 19F(p,α0) reaction at sub-barrier energies. The spectroscopy of 20Ne excited states in the region Ex 13.5-14.0 MeV can be probed by analyzing experimental angular distributions and excitation functions. This reaction plays an important role also in the CNOF cycle and is an important ingredient to describe hydrogen-induced destruction of fluorine in massive stars. For this reason we investigated the trend of S-factor, that has been compared with results previously reported in the literature. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Lt